


If we won’t burn together, I’ll burn alone

by TheGIrlAnachronism



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, Platonic SethKate, Pre-RichieKate, post s3 speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-28 00:20:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8423443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGIrlAnachronism/pseuds/TheGIrlAnachronism
Summary: I hope you burn in hell


  Those words haunted her now.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know you guys. I sat down to write something completely different and got this instead.
> 
> Anyway, this is based on the speculations about Richie possibly going to Hell/Xibalba to save Kate. If that doesn't turn out to happen, this won't make much sense. :/

* * *

_"The seeds of love have taken hold, and if we won't burn together, I'll burn alone.”  
_

_― Bret Easton Ellis, The Rules of Attraction_

  

_I hope you burn in hell_  

Those words haunted her now. The unintentional prophecy she had uttered with her final breath.

She had been so angry. Angry at the Gecko's for taking her family hostage. Angry at Scott for not trying harder to find a way to get control. Even angry at her own father for taking them on that damn trip in the first place. She had been angry at the whole damn world and wanted everything to burn. Richie had just been unfortunate enough to be there at the time. Had it been anyone else in his position instead she would have cursed them too.

_Cursed_.

Had she really cursed him? Did she somehow make this happen?

She wondered if it was possible. Maybe imbuing her words with so much rage had given them power to come true. Maybe her anger, her hatred in that moment had invited the darkness in, allowed it to take control.

She wondered if he knew how much she wished she could take those words back. She hoped that he did.

Kate stood next to the bed she had been sleeping in the last few night – or attempting to sleep in to be more precise. The bed that belonged to Richie. She had wanted to stay in his room for some reason. Maybe it was a way to feel closer to him, or maybe she was just torturing herself. She sighed wistfully as she looked down at the large, inviting bed, running her hand over the sumptuously soft Egyptian cotton sheets. It was a shame she couldn't enjoy it. But sleep seemed to be a rather elusive thing at the moment. Kate doubted that would change until Richie was back where he belonged – and no longer plaguing her nightmares.

Maybe then she would be able to take advantage of the luxurious bed.

_Of course then I'd have to share..._

A shiver ran through Kate at the idea of sharing Richie's bed with him. She closed her eyes, hugging herself. She imagined Richie's arms wrapping around her from behind, his body fitted closely against hers…

A gasp escaped her lips and her eyes flew open. She quickly slammed the lid shut on that thought, shoving it back deep into her mind where it belonged. She stepped back from the bed and fled the room.

 

 

 

Kate found Seth in the kitchen.

He was sitting at the table, a half empty bottle of whiskey in front of him while he raised a full glass of it to his lips. Kate watched from the entryway as he tilted his head back and gulped the whiskey down in one go. He groaned and placed the now empty glass on the table with a thud. Kate took a step back, planning to turn around and leave him to it, but the sound of his voice stopped her.

“Can't sleep?” he asked, tone gruff.

She shook her head, but Seth wasn't looking at her. She cleared her throat to speak.

“N-no,” she murmured. “Not really.”

Seth just grunted in response. He swiped up the bottle of whiskey and twisted off the cap. He refilled the glass but instead of picking it up he slid it across the table.

Kate was taken slightly by surprise at the silent invitation. But she accepted it and ventured into the room, lowering herself into the chair opposite Seth. She tentatively wrapped her fingers around the glass, eyes flicking up to glance at Seth. He raised the bottle of whiskey in his hand as a sort of salute.

“Bottoms up,” he muttered, putting the bottle to his lips.

“Bottoms up,” Kate echoed back softly, lifting the glass to her own. She winced as she took a deep gulp of the alcohol. Clenching her teeth she accepted the heat as it blazed its way down her throat. _Why shouldn't I burn a little too?_

She rolled the glass between her hands, staring down into the amber colored liquid as it sloshed up against the crystal edges.

“We have to do something,” she whispered after a moment, her soft voice breaking the silence that had settled between them.

Seth scoffed making Kate raise her eyes to him.

“You think I don't know that,” he muttered. “He's my brother, Kate. You really think there's anything I won't do to get him back? Because there isn't – even if I have to dig a hole to Hell myself and drag his ass back.”

“Great.” Kate put down her glass and rested her arms on the table, lacing her fingers together. “When do we get started? I'll grab a shovel and we can dig together.”

Seth let out a huff of humorless laughter, shaking his head. “No way. Sorry, I can't let you ride shotgun on this one, Princess.”

“You're kidding right?” It was Kate's turn to scoff. “Of course I'm going to help! I'm the reason Richie is where he is right now. I'm not just going to sit around and do nothing. Not when he went there to save me!”

Seth's palm came down hard on the surface of the table, causing both Kate and her glass of whiskey to jump.

“That's exactly why you can't do anything that might put you at risk,” Seth's calm voice was a contrast to the intense emotion radiating from his body. “Imagine what it would do to Richie if after everything he sacrificed to save your life, something happened to you because you were trying to save his. If you get hurt or die then that would make everything he did to save you mean nothing. You understand?”

Kate rolled her lips inward and bit down on them, unable to argue with Seth but not wanting to give him the satisfaction of agreeing.

Seth took a long swing from the whiskey bottle, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand afterward. “Besides, you're hardly in fighting shape at the moment anyway.” He gestured vaguely to where Kate's arms rested on the table top, to her bandaged wrists.

Kate blinked at the sudden stinging in her eyes. She slid her arms off the table, putting her hands in her lap and hidden from Seth's view.

She knew he was right. Her body was still so weak after everything it had gone through. She would be useless in a physical altercation in the state she was in now. And waiting for her to recuperate wasn't an option. She didn't want Richie to spend a second longer in that place than he had to, especially not because of her.

“I have to help him,” Kate said, keeping her voice low so it wouldn't crack. “And not just because he saved me. I…” Kate's mouth snapped shut, lips setting in a hard line. She didn't really know what to say. It was kind of fitting though that she couldn't complete the thought. In a way her relationship, if you could even call it that, with Richie was like an unfinished sentence. She just needed to find the right words to make it whole. “There has to be something I can do.”

“Of course there is,” Seth's voice, gentler than before, pulled Kate's gaze up to meet his. “Richie was always the man with the plan. And since he can't contribute, for obvious reasons, I'm gonna need all the help I can get. I mean if this was some run of the mill bank heist, or gas station hold up, I could do it myself, no problem. But I am seriously in over my head when it comes to this…supernatural shit.” He paused to take yet another shot. “I know you did all that research into this culebra stuff when we were down in Mexico, maybe something you learned will help.” Seth paused, scratching against the stubble on his chin. He cleared his throat, looking slightly uncomfortable. “And, uh, I don't know how much you remember, if anything, from being possessed by that Hell Bitch, but…”

Kate flinched at the reminder of Amaru. She tried to cover the movement by tossing her hair over her shoulder. “I…I remember a lot actually,” she murmured.

Seth stared at her for a moment, concern etched into the lines of his face, pain swimming in the murky depths of his eyes. He looked away, head bobbing. “Uh…well maybe you know something we can use then.”

“Maybe,” Kate echoed, voice hollow. She didn't like thinking about the things Amaru did while she violated Kate's body. But she'd face it if she had to. To save Richie. 

The chair Seth was in creaked as his weight shifted. He leaned forward and put his elbows on the table. “Kate… listen, I know I let you down last time we partnered up. I fucked up. I _gave_ up. But, I want you to know that's not gonna happen again. I'm not gonna give up on him this time. I'm not gonna lose him again.”

Kate nodded, the lump swelling in her throat making it hard to speak. Seth reached across the table, his palm facing up. Kate lifted a hand from her lap and placed it in his. Seth's fingers closed around her hand, squeezing it briefly before letting go.

“I'm gonna bring my brother back,” He averred. “And when I do, his little knife-throwing girl is gonna be here waiting for him, safe and sound.”

Kate's head snapped up at Seth's use of the nickname – the one she had flippantly bestowed upon herself once upon a time – the barest of smirks twitched at the corners of his lips, Kate felt the tug of a smile at her own.

_Richie's knife-throwing girl_.

She wondered if perhaps those words could true as well; maybe someday she could be Richie's girl for real.

Her chest felt warm at the thought – or maybe it was just the whiskey. Either way, it felt nice, for a brief moment at least.

“Jesus Christ it's late,” Seth said suddenly, leaning back in his chair and scrubbing his hands over his face. “We aren't gonna be any help to anybody if we don't get some rest. We should probably both hit the hay, huh?”

“Sure,” she agreed, though she knew he was just trying to get her to rest, that he wouldn't be getting any sleep himself. She probably wouldn't either, but she would pretend for Seth's sake. Just like she had indulged him with the implication that she would stay away from the dangerous parts of saving Richie. But she knew that, like Seth, she would would go to Hell and back all over again if that's what it came to.

Seth let out a tired sigh, rubbing his hands over his thighs. “Night, kid.”

“Goodnight, Seth,” she replied. She lifted herself out of the chair and made her way out of the kitchen, leaving Seth alone with his old pal Jack Daniels.

 

 

 

Kate heard the words she had spoken once before echoing in her dreams. But they weren't the words that had hounded her before, and her voice wasn't the one calling out.

_Set me free_

Her heart pounded with recognition.

Richie.

_Please, Kate, please. Set me free._

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for reading. Please let me know what you thought! Concrit is completely welcome. Also if you noticed any mistakes, feel free to point them out so I can fix them. :)


End file.
